Alternatives to Native SharePoint Archiving
This page covers alternatives for archiving SharePoint files and sites; for email archiving, see Exchange Online Archiving: what it is and what it does not cover.
Microsoft 365 Archive is Microsoft's native cold-storage tier for SharePoint. It moves content into a colder tier inside SharePoint at $0.05 per GB per month, whole-site reactivation is administrator-initiated and can take up to 24 hours once a site has been archived for more than seven days, and its file-level mode lets any user with read access reactivate an individual file, with the same 24-hour wait after the first seven days and a 120-day block on re-archiving. Archived content is excluded from Microsoft Copilot. The main alternatives are third-party archiving tools that work at the file level, leave searchable stub files in place, and can store archived data in storage you own. The most common options are Squirrel, AvePoint Opus, ShareGate, and Archive360.
This page compares all of them on the questions that decide the call: what level they archive at, where the archived data physically lives, whether end users can restore their own files, what it costs in fees and delay to get content back, whether Microsoft Copilot can still see archived content, and how much of the process runs on automated policies. Every claim about a third-party product is sourced from that vendor's own current documentation.
The Baseline: What Microsoft 365 Archive Does
Before the alternatives, the native option itself. Microsoft 365 Archive has two modes, both generally available. Site-level archive hibernates a whole SharePoint site at the archive storage rate. Microsoft's overview is blunt about the effect: "Content in this tier is no longer directly accessible to anyone." Reactivation is administrator-initiated, instant for the first seven days and up to 24 hours after that. The per-GB reactivation fee for SharePoint content was removed on 31 March 2025; in its place, reactivated content cannot be re-archived for four months. File-level archive is enabled by default for every SharePoint site when Microsoft 365 Archive is switched on: users with edit permissions can archive files, any user with read access can reactivate them, and admins can script both through PowerShell and Graph. There is no automated lifecycle policy engine, a reactivated file cannot be archived again for 120 days, and file-level archive does not reduce a site's storage usage. On Copilot, Microsoft's FAQ is one sentence: "No, archived content isn't used by Microsoft Copilot." Archived data stays inside SharePoint at a tier Microsoft sets.
The full head-to-head is in Microsoft 365 Archive vs Squirrel.
What Microsoft 365 Archive costs to get back
The archive rate is the easy number. What decides whether an archive is usable day to day is what it takes to get content back: the fee, the wait, who has to be involved, and whether archiving actually made the site smaller. These are Microsoft's current figures.
| Item | Microsoft 365 Archive today | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Archive rate | $0.05 per GB per month, charged only when archived plus active storage exceeds the tenant's included allocation (1 TB plus 10 GB per licence). Under the allocation there is nothing to pay. | Pricing model |
| SharePoint reactivation fee | None since 31 March 2025. In its place, newly reactivated content cannot be re-archived for four months, and a reactivated file cannot be archived again for 120 days. | Pricing model, Overview |
| Unlicensed OneDrive reactivation | $0.60 per GB to reactivate, plus $0.05 per GB per month for archived storage. Once billing is enabled, the monthly charge applies to every unlicensed account in the organisation. The fee removal does not apply to OneDrive. | Unlicensed OneDrive accounts |
| Time to access | Instant for the first seven days ("Recently archived"). After that, reactivation can take up to 24 hours, and up to 48 hours for large folders. | Archive states, End-user experience |
| Who can trigger it | Sites: a SharePoint Administrator. Users see "The site is archived" and have to ask an admin. Files: any user with read access. | Manage |
| Effect on site quota | File-level archive does not reduce site storage usage: "Archiving a file doesn't reduce reported storage usage, change storage calculations, or affect quota enforcement." Site-level archive reclassifies the bytes from active to archived storage; they still count towards the tenant total. | FAQ |
| OneDrive coverage | File-level archive is SharePoint only. Admins cannot archive OneDrive accounts; the OneDrive service archives unlicensed accounts on its own after 93 days. | Manage |
Read together: the archive rate is a quarter of the $0.20 active rate and there is no longer a fee to bring SharePoint content back. The costs sit elsewhere. Anything archived for more than a week is a day away. Anything reactivated is locked out of the archive for four months. Anything in an archived site needs a SharePoint admin. And file-level archive, the mode that lets users help themselves, does not make the site any smaller. A worked example at 10 TB is in Microsoft 365 Archive vs Squirrel.
The Alternatives, Compared
Squirrel (SmiKar)
Squirrel is file-level, policy-driven archiving for SharePoint Online document libraries. Scheduled lifecycle policies (last modified, last accessed, file type, folder path, library or site) move inactive files into Azure Blob Storage in the customer's own Azure subscription, in the customer's tenant, region and chosen tier, and leave a stub in place that stays visible in the SharePoint web UI, OneDrive sync on Windows and Mac, and Microsoft Teams. Restore is self-service and immediate: a user clicks the stub and the original comes back with its version history, with no fee and no re-archive block. Microsoft Purview retention labels and legal holds are preserved through archive and restore. Nutshell AI embeds a summary of each archived document in its stub, so SharePoint Search and Microsoft 365 Copilot can still find the content. Because the archived bytes leave SharePoint, site and tenant storage volume drops; because every file leaves a stub, item counts do not, so list-view and sync thresholds are unchanged. Squirrel archives document libraries only: not OneNote, SharePoint pages, lists, site assets or active users' OneDrive.
AvePoint Opus
AvePoint Opus is a broad information-lifecycle platform covering Microsoft 365, SharePoint on-premises, file systems, Box, Google Drive (preview), and physical records. Archive storage is configurable - Azure Blob Storage, Amazon S3, SFTP, or FTP - and end users can restore archived content through AvePoint's ReCenter portal, with stub templates available. Policy automation covers retention and disposal schedules. One documented constraint: per AvePoint's own documentation, sites with active Microsoft 365 retention policies applied are skipped in Opus jobs - "to manage this content, remove or disable the retention policy or label first." The full comparison is in AvePoint alternative for SharePoint archiving.
ShareGate
ShareGate is primarily SharePoint migration and management tooling, and its archiving works differently from the stub-based tools: it is an end-of-life workflow. When a team or site is deemed inactive, ShareGate exports its files, metadata, permissions, and version history to an Azure storage account you configure - and then the site itself is deleted. Archived content is searchable through ShareGate's own index rather than SharePoint, and there are no stub files left in place. It suits decommissioning finished sites; it is not designed for keeping archived files visible and restorable inside a live SharePoint estate.
Archive360
Archive360 is an enterprise information-archiving and data-governance platform. Its architecture deploys a dedicated instance inside your own Azure subscription, so - like Squirrel - archived data stays under customer control rather than in vendor infrastructure. The platform's focus is compliance-grade archiving: immutable WORM storage aligned to SEC/FINRA/MiFID II requirements, retention scheduling, eDiscovery, and restore back to SharePoint with metadata and permissions intact. End-user self-service restore from within SharePoint and Copilot visibility of archived content are not documented features; the platform is oriented toward records management and compliance teams rather than day-to-day end-user access.
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Tool | Archive level | Where archived data lives | Self-service restore and retrieval cost | Copilot visibility | Policy automation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squirrel | File; archived bytes leave SharePoint, the stub keeps the item in place | Your own Azure Blob Storage | Yes - one click in SharePoint, OneDrive sync, or Teams; immediate; no fee; no re-archive block | Yes (via Nutshell AI stub summaries) | Yes - scheduled lifecycle policies |
| Microsoft 365 Archive | Site (GA) + file (GA); file-level does not reduce site storage usage | Inside SharePoint, at Microsoft's archive tier | Site: admin only. File: any user with read access. Instant for 7 days, then up to 24 hours; 120-day re-archive block. No fee for SharePoint; $0.60 per GB for unlicensed OneDrive | No - "archived content isn't used by Microsoft Copilot" | Site-level retention only; none at file level |
| AvePoint Opus | Site and content | Configurable: Azure Blob, Amazon S3, SFTP, FTP | Yes - via ReCenter portal; retrieval pricing not published | Not documented | Yes - retention and disposal schedules; skips sites under active M365 retention policies |
| ShareGate | Whole team/site at end of life | Your Azure storage account (source site is then deleted) | No - content leaves SharePoint; searchable via ShareGate's index | No | Inactivity detection and end-of-life workflows |
| Archive360 | Files and sites (compliance archive) | Dedicated platform in your own Azure subscription | Restore to SharePoint is admin/records-driven; end-user self-service not documented; retrieval pricing not published | Not documented | Yes - retention and compliance policies |
How to Choose
- You want inactive files out of expensive SharePoint storage, but users must still see and restore them - that is stub-based file-level archiving: Squirrel, or AvePoint Opus if you need its broader platform scope.
- You need archiving to actually bring site storage usage down - Microsoft's file-level archive does not change site storage usage or quota, and site-level archive only reclassifies bytes for whole sites. Squirrel moves the archived bytes out of SharePoint at file level and leaves stubs, so the library gets lighter without losing its structure.
- You want archived data in storage you own - Squirrel, Archive360, and ShareGate all write into your Azure; AvePoint is configurable. Microsoft 365 Archive keeps data inside SharePoint.
- You need Copilot to keep answering from archived content - Microsoft excludes archived content from Copilot; Squirrel with Nutshell AI is the documented way to keep it discoverable.
- You are decommissioning finished sites for good - ShareGate's end-of-life export, or Microsoft 365 Archive's site mode if you are happy with data staying inside SharePoint and a SharePoint admin handling any reactivation.
- Your driver is regulatory records management (WORM immutability, eDiscovery, defensible disposal) - Archive360 or AvePoint Opus.
- You run active Microsoft Purview retention policies - note AvePoint's documented requirement to remove or disable them first; Squirrel operates alongside active retention policies, and labels and holds survive archive and restore.
For a structured way to run this evaluation, see the enterprise SharePoint archiving buyer's checklist.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the alternatives to Microsoft 365 Archive for SharePoint?
The established options are Squirrel, AvePoint Opus, ShareGate and Archive360. They differ less on whether they can archive SharePoint and more on four things that matter later: whether the archive lands in storage you own or the vendor's, whether an end user can restore a file without raising a ticket, what retrieval costs in fees and delay, and whether archived content stays visible to Microsoft Copilot. The comparison table above sets each out.
What are the alternatives to native SharePoint archiving?
Native archiving in Microsoft 365 works at two levels. Archiving a site removes access for everyone in it until a SharePoint admin reactivates it, which is instant for seven days and then takes up to 24 hours; there has been no reactivation fee for SharePoint since 31 March 2025, but reactivated content cannot be re-archived for four months. File-level archive lets users archive and reactivate individual files, with a 120-day re-archive block, but does not reduce site storage usage. The alternatives take one of two shapes. File-level archiving with stubs leaves the site live, moves the bytes out, and lets users restore individual documents themselves. Full-export archiving moves content out to a separate repository entirely. Which suits you depends mostly on whether users still need day-to-day access to the archived content.
Is Microsoft 365 Archive included in E3 or E5?
No. Microsoft 365 Archive is not part of any Microsoft 365 licence and there is no per-user charge. It is a pay-as-you-go service: you link an Azure subscription and resource group, set up pay-as-you-go billing in the Microsoft 365 admin centre, and a SharePoint or Global Administrator turns the feature on. Archived storage is then metered at $0.05 per GB per month, and only once archived plus active storage exceeds your included allocation. If the billing subscription becomes unhealthy, Microsoft counts archived content as active storage again. The detail is on Microsoft's pricing page.
Does file-level Microsoft 365 Archive reduce my site storage quota?
No. Microsoft's FAQ states: "File-level archive doesn't change site storage usage or quota behavior. Archived files are accounted for in site storage the same way as active files." It goes on: "file-level archive can't be used to reduce storage usage or store data beyond a site's allocated quota." At tenant level the bytes are reclassified from active to archived storage, which is what the $0.05 rate applies to. If the goal is a smaller site or a smaller tenant, that takes either site-level archive of whole sites or a tool such as Squirrel that moves the bytes out of SharePoint and leaves a stub.
What are the best alternatives to Microsoft 365 Archive?
The main alternatives are Squirrel, AvePoint Opus, ShareGate, and Archive360. Squirrel is the option that archives inactive SharePoint files into your own Azure Blob Storage with one-click self-service restore and keeps archived content visible to Microsoft Copilot. AvePoint Opus suits organisations that need one lifecycle platform across many content sources, ShareGate suits end-of-life site decommissioning, and Archive360 suits compliance-grade records management.
Is there a Microsoft 365 Archive alternative that keeps data in my own Azure?
Yes. Squirrel writes archived SharePoint content into your own Azure Blob Storage account, in your subscription and chosen region. The archive stays in your storage account if you stop using Squirrel, and Squirrel bulk-restores sites, libraries or folders back into SharePoint before the subscription ends, with no export fee. Archive360 also deploys into your own Azure subscription, and ShareGate exports end-of-life content to your Azure storage account.
What is the cheapest way to archive SharePoint instead of Microsoft 365 Archive?
Offloading inactive files to Azure Blob Cool, Cold, or Archive tiers via a stub-file tool such as Squirrel is typically far cheaper than paying for active SharePoint storage at $0.20 per GB per month, and cheaper again than Microsoft 365 Archive's $0.05 per GB per month, with no reactivation wait and no re-archive block. Run the numbers for your own volume with the SharePoint vs Azure storage cost calculator.
Related reading
- Microsoft 365 Archive vs Squirrel: the full head-to-head
- AvePoint alternative for SharePoint archiving
- SharePoint Online archiving - the complete enterprise guide
- Enterprise SharePoint archiving buyer's checklist
- Microsoft Copilot and archived SharePoint content
- A SharePoint file shows 'Archived' and won't open: how to reactivate it
DISCLAIMER: Information about Microsoft 365 Archive, AvePoint Opus, ShareGate, and Archive360 on this page is sourced from each vendor's own public documentation and product pages as of September 2026. Product capabilities change; if you believe anything here is inaccurate or out of date, contact us and we will correct it promptly. All product names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. SmiKar Software is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft, AvePoint, ShareGate, or Archive360.
See the Difference for Yourself
If your requirement is file-level SharePoint archiving with data in your own Azure storage, self-service restore, and Copilot visibility, see how Squirrel works or contact us for a demo.
Mark Smith co-founded SmiKar Software in 2015 and has spent the past decade helping organisations solve Microsoft 365 data management challenges. He works with the SmiKar team to build solutions for SharePoint archiving, storage optimisation, governance and compliance, supporting customers from growing businesses through to Fortune 500 enterprises.
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